Speeding up slow PSN downloads (video shows the difference)

{disclaimer: I did not come up with this workaround on my own, a recent blog post by a friend of mine made me realize that it may come off that way. I had the idea of doing this and searched around and found someone had already done what I was looking to do. Full credit goes to a poster named Moofed on the official PS forums}

Made a video about this today showing my results (I used a proxy server on my pc for the ps3 to connect to the internet through) Please excuse my speech, I'm burnt out from today and I have a bad case of stage fright as well

I'll be back later tonight or tomorrow.

What we're going to do here is create a local web proxy on your pc for your ps3 to connect to the internet/psn through rather than straight through your router

What you'll need:

A decent pc (nothing too old, any moderately powerful pc should be able to handle this)

At least a 10/100 router (most are), a 10MB switch might not be able to handle all the network traffic this will cause.

A static IP address on your PC (if you don't know how to do this click the reveal tab for LionelHutz's guide on setting a static IP address in Windows.) You'll need to know this address later on.

A program called 'Privoxy', very small and only uses 5k ram.

A little bit of reading and time, not much don't worry.

How to set a static IP in windows: [reveal]1. Start > Run > cmd

2. Type ipconfig /all. You will see:[reveal] [/reveal]

3. Leave this window open (you will need the information in it to set up a static IP).

4. Start > Right Click "My Network Places" > Properties: [reveal]

[/reveal]

5. You will see a section called, "LAN or High-Speed Internet". In that section, right click the icon representing your active connection (you may only have one icon). Then choose properties: [reveal]

8. In "IP address", enter the static IP address that you would like, typically you want to change only the last set of numbers of the IP address. To avoid problems with DHCP in your router I recommend using an address that is not near the one that your computer is currently using (as shown in the CMD.exe window you opened in the first few steps). Typically routers will use xxx.xxx.x.100 to xxx.xxx.x.150 as the DHCP range, setting your address outside of this range (.99 or lower or .151 or higher) should avoid any IP address conflicts that would result from DHCP

9. Under "Subnet mask," enter it exactly as you see it in the CMD.exe window.

10. Under "Default gateway", enter it exactly as you see it in the CMD.exe window.

11. Under "Preferred DNS server", enter it exactly as you see it under "DNS servers" in the CMD.exe window. Note, you may only have one DNS server listed in the CMD.exe window. If so, leave the "Alternate DNS server" blank. If you have two in the CMD.exe window, enter the second under "Alternate DNS server".

12. Click "OK"

13. Click "OK"

Hope this helps some people![/reveal]

How to install and configure privoxy and your PS3[reveal]

Okay First up you can download privoxy HERE (choose your operating system)
After you download it just install it, you should have a privoxy program window pop open.

In the privoxy program window that's opened up now you'll need to go to the Options menu and select 'Edit Main Configuration', this will open a notepad window.

Scroll down the window till you see a line that says "listen-address 127.0.0.1:8118" (this will be one without the # in front of it)

Now you'll need to edit the "127.0.0.1" with your PC's computer's IP address, the :8118 part should stay.

After you've edited the file click the the 'file' option at the top, hit "save", and then 'file' again and 'exit'. (I'd recommend exiting privoxy and restarting it to make sure these changes take effect)

If you have a firewall on your computer you need to allow access to Privoxy on port 8118. If you still have trouble connecting try turning the firewall off to test the proxy (you might need to configure your firewall or use a different one)

Now go to your ps3, open the Network settings tab then to edit your internet connection settings, you'll leave them the same *until* you hit the option "Use Proxy Server".

When you get to this option click YES.

Now under the next window you'll need to punch in your PC's IP address in the top window.

On the bottom window you'll need to enter "8118" for the port.

Finish up your settings, click save and then test. You should get internet connection, psn connection, all that stuff as 'successful'.

If you don't double check the file editing you did earlier, your firewall, and your ps3 settings and try again.

Now that you're all setup hit the playstation store and try a download, make sure you go to the download management section under network to actually see how fast your download is going. I personally noticed a very nice jump in speed and consistency, I downloaded the lego batman demo for the psp (59MB) in about 50 seconds flat which works out to about 1.1MB/s... and this download speed hasn't waivered since I've done this. [/reveal]

Now you might be wondering why this works... and why some people report great speeds all the time and why some don't. Personally I'm not too sure but I think it might have something to do with ISP throttling people's bandwidth over certain ports/protocols. My other guess is the PS3 is picky about the data it receives (size of data chunks perhaps?) and maybe something happens to it coming through the internet for some people and thus slows the download speed down. I'm not sure as I said, anybody who understands networking better than I do feel free to chime in.

I'm also not too sure how this will affect your online gaming, I personally noticed a little less 'hiccups' while trying out SFIIHDR CoD:WaW. I think that due to the way the traffic is routed you will probably see a small increase in ping times (probably about 10ms or so) Keep in mind that if this doesn't work for you or it screws you speeds up you can just redo your network connection and change the proxy setting to 'NO' to return it to normal (don't forget to uninstall privoxy if you don't need it) The other downside to this is that you'll need your PC running to be able to access the net/network on your ps3.

Alrighty guys, try it out and please post your results up here. Good luck!

Set your browser to use Privoxy as HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) proxy by setting the proxy configuration for address of 127.0.0.1 and port 8118. DO NOT activate proxying for FTP or any protocols besides HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) unless you intend to prevent your browser from using these protocols.Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images. If using Privoxy to manage cookies, you should remove any currently stored cookies too.